EDHS earns big road win

East Duplin shortstop Anna Craft (2) prepares to catch the ball and tag out Swansboro’s Megan Malone at third base during the second inning of the Panthers’ 8-5 win over the Pirates on Friday in an East Central 2-A Conference softball game. Malone was called out after third baseman Michaela Smith (4) picked up a grounder along the third-base line, faked a throw to first and threw it to Craft at third.

Don Bryan/The Daily News

By Chris Miller-Prep Sports Writer

Published: Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 10:30 AM.

SWANSBORO — East Duplin’s softball team didn’t disappoint coach Greg Jenkins after he called this a must-win game Friday.

Jenkins watched as Paxton Blizzard went 2-for-4 with three RBIs to lead the Panthers to an 8-5 victory at Swansboro in an East Central 2-A Conference game.

“This was a must win. Anytime you play in this conference on the road and you can get a win, that’s good,” he said. “Our girls came in focused, knowing we had to beat Swansboro if we wanted a high playoff seed. It’s going to come down to a couple of teams we have to play at the end. So this is a huge win.”

The win for East Duplin (14-6, 6-5) moved the Panthers past the Pirates (8-8, 5-5) for fourth place in the ECC, which gets five automatic bids to the NCHSAA 2-A playoffs.

This marked the second victory over Swansboro this season — EDHS defeated Swansboro 9-8 earlier this month in the Piggly Wiggly Softball Tournament in Richlands — for the Panthers, who hope to use this win to push them moving forward.

“We played pretty well tonight,” Jenkins said. “We have them again, we have Northside, who is playing really well, and South Lenoir coming up. We are confident and I like our chances in those games.

SWANSBORO — East Duplin’s softball team didn’t disappoint coach Greg Jenkins after he called this a must-win game Friday.

Jenkins watched as Paxton Blizzard went 2-for-4 with three RBIs to lead the Panthers to an 8-5 victory at Swansboro in an East Central 2-A Conference game.

“This was a must win. Anytime you play in this conference on the road and you can get a win, that’s good,” he said. “Our girls came in focused, knowing we had to beat Swansboro if we wanted a high playoff seed. It’s going to come down to a couple of teams we have to play at the end. So this is a huge win.”

The win for East Duplin (14-6, 6-5) moved the Panthers past the Pirates (8-8, 5-5) for fourth place in the ECC, which gets five automatic bids to the NCHSAA 2-A playoffs.

This marked the second victory over Swansboro this season — EDHS defeated Swansboro 9-8 earlier this month in the Piggly Wiggly Softball Tournament in Richlands — for the Panthers, who hope to use this win to push them moving forward.

“We played pretty well tonight,” Jenkins said. “We have them again, we have Northside, who is playing really well, and South Lenoir coming up. We are confident and I like our chances in those games.

“If we can win out, it would put us in a good playoff position.”

Blizzard agreed that the win Friday was a good one.

“It’s a good win to get our confidence up,” she said.

Meanwhile, it’s back to the drawing board for Swansboro, which committed three errors in the first two innings that helped East Duplin build a 6-0 lead.

The Pirates got to within 7-5 in the fourth inning, but couldn’t get any closer.

“I hope we stay strong and win those games (left),” said Swansboro coach Kelly Frank, whose team visits league-leading Topsail on Tuesday. “I know Topsail is a tough team, but we have scored off them. I have faith in them.”

East Duplin took control early against Swansboro by scoring three runs in each of the first two innings.

Chelsey Cooper opened the game by reaching on an error and later moved to third when Lauren Williams walked and Anna Craft reached on a fielder’s choice.

One out later, Blizzard singled to bring in two runs.

“I was just looking at getting the runners around,” Blizzard said. “I just wanted to be productive.”

Emilee Craft added an RBI-single in the first to give the Panthers a 3-0 lead.

East Duplin then took advantage of two more errors to extend its lead to 6-0 in the second.

Kendall Lego led off the second by reaching on an error and then moved to second on a single by Cooper. After a strikeout, Anna Craft singled in Lego.

Cooper and Craft later scored when Blizzard reached on an error by the right fielder.

“Our objective was to score a run in every inning,” Jenkins said. “If we get the lead-off hitter on, we will try to manufacture something. It worked in our favor tonight.

“That was the key. We wanted to try to play small ball, take some bases and put the ball on the ground.”

After the Pirates fell behind 6-0, Frank called a short team meeting on the pitcher’s mound. She wanted to get her team to relax.

“We just kind of told them to keep it together and to stick to the basics,” Frank said. “They know how to play the game. They just need to cut them (errors) out and concentrate on making the play.”

That talk appeared to have worked as the Pirates.

In the bottom of the second, Swansboro’s Morgan Sheehan scored on a wild pitch and Andrea Heredia had a two-run triple to cut East Duplin’s lead to 6-3.

The Pirates got to within 7-5 in the fourth on a two-run double by Alex Watkins.

“When we were coming back, they were louder than they usually are,” Frank said of her team. “It just feels better when they are like that. They’re not down on themselves.”

East Duplin, though, added an insurance run to make it 8-5 in the fifth on an RBI groundout by Lego.

Another big EDHS run came in the fourth when Blizzard doubled in pinch runner Jennifer Pate to give the Panthers a 7-3 lead. Pate was running for winning pitcher Makayla Byrd, who reached on a two-out walk.

“That was huge,” Jenkins said. “If we don’t have Jennifer’s speed on first when Paxton hits that ball at the fence, we don’t score. That’s manufacturing a run right there.”

Jenkins was not surprised Blizzard came through in the clutch.

“Paxton did a great job of hitting the ball tonight,” he said. “That’s why we moved her there in the five-hole because she’s producing.”